Movie Review: Spotlight
What We Liked
What We Didn't Like
Movies about journalistic crusades often run the risk of appearing pretentious, preachy, or some uncomfortable combination of both. That the best examples, namely All The President’s Men (1976) and more recently, Zodiac (2007), can flip guys with rolled up sleeves and notepads into the pantheon of American heroism speaks to the allure of true justice. Such was the case in 2001, when a Boston Globe news team uncovered the greatest religious scandal the country had ever seen – five priests convicted of sexual abuse, with hundreds of accusations soon following. It was a 
watershed moment in journalism, but post 9/11, it also drove a dagger through society’s most sacred institution in a time of need.
This moral contradiction comes to embody all that is powerful in the brilliantly nuanced Spotlight. Aforementioned benchmarks like President’s Men or Zodiac worked best within a dogged, business-like environment, but Tom McCarthy’s adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning investigation is at it’s strongest when dealing in emotional punch. No doubt aided by its tentative topic, the film allows its reporters to become personally invested, a move that radically raises stakes for the viewers.
These reporters, dubbed the “Spotlight” team, are a special unit with the Boston Globe, focusing attention on specific cases and expose pieces. At the urging of tightly wound editor Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), Robby Robinson (Michael Keaton) and his team begin pursuing what looks like a routine case of a pedophilic priest in the Boston area. These opening scenes, in no rush to get to the meat of the story, establish a world that’s wholly authentic in its fluorescent flickers and khaki sporting reporters. Grimly serious without sacrificing a good natured goof, Spotlight’s pleated tone is one that’s not often maintained in contemporary cinema. Or any era, for that matter.
Naturally, the single priest that started all this winds up being the tip of the iceberg for Robinson and company, setting in motion a series of dazzling interviews and steel sharp exchanges with attorney Mitchell Garabedian (Stanley Tucci). The handful of scenes shared between Garabedian and reporter Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo) are dialogue heavy duels at their best, while still integrating ideally into the overarching plotline. As for the victim interviews, whether conducted by Sascha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams) or Matt Carroll (Brian d’Arcy James), each account reaches depths of sadness and irreversible trauma that often times it feels difficult to watch. Credit to each and every performer who appear in these bit parts; their wounded presence is the crux of the entire film.
There’s not much to offer in terms of plot that isn’t already common knowledge, but Spotlight still manages to surprise and shock through the sheer power of its presentation. Ruffalo’s explosion at the three-quarter mark of the picture is a masterful example of performance through body language, while Keaton, the sage leader, brings haunting depth to the eventual realization of a past mistake. The sequence in which Robinson’s childhood friend (and cover-up accomplice) goads him for not catching these sick crimes years earlier raises questions that lack clear cut answers. As a result, the sting in the actor’s eyes reflects that of the general public – appalled, but too wrapped up in our own worlds to realize the horror outside of the bedroom window.
Writer/director Tom McCarthy, whose unorthodox career has included acting parts in Good Night and Good Luck (2005) and directing bids with The Station Agent (2003), has not only made one of the year’s best films, but one of the greatest journalism pictures ever made. In expanding upon the newsroom intensity of masterpieces prior, his fearless pursuit of emotional truth in correlation with the legal truth is staggeringly powerful. By the time the closing credits wash over the screen to list the cities that have suffered this sexual abuse, its message is only too clear. Like it’s reporting counterpart, Spotlight can’t change the world, but it can make people question why they don’t do it themselves.
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